O Canada! > Canadian > Canadian Chat > [Rant] A movie about Russell Williams?? Lovely.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Lifetime will premiere the Original Movie An Officer and a Murderer, starring Gary Cole (The Good Wife, Office Space), Laura Harris (Defying Gravity, A Borrowed Life, 24) and Rossif Sutherland (King, The Con Artist, High Life), on Saturday, July 21, at 8:00pm ET/PT. The riveting film is based on the true story of a powerful and respected military officer who committed numerous brutal crimes and was eventually brought down by a tenacious small town police detective.

Based on the true story of one of Canada’s highest ranking Air Force Officers, Colonel Russell Williams (Cole), An Officer and a Murderer follows the downward spiral of this public figure and the determined police work that brought him in. Colonel Williams and his high-society wife (Nahanni Johnstone, The Kennedys) were considered one of Canada’s most respected “power couples,” with two beautiful homes and high-profile careers. But on February 7, 2010, the entire nation watched in disbelief as he was arrested and eventually convicted of his crimes. Starting with a string of home invasions, Colonel Williams would take women’s lingerie and photos, later carefully categorizing and labeling them for his home collection. As he rose up in the ranks of the military, his lust and power grew and he eventually put aside all barriers to his deviant impulses, becoming more and more violent. Ultimately, he received two life sentences for first-degree murder, as well as concurrent sentences for sexual assault, forcible confinement and 82 counts of burglary. Brilliant at being stealth and obsessive in covering all traces, Colonel Williams was able to deceive his wife, friends, neighbors and even his military comrades until he was finally outwitted by a small town police detective (Harris), along with an FBI trained interrogation specialist (Sutherland), who together worked on the investigation that put an end to Colonel Williams’ string of disturbing crimes.

An Officer and a Murderer is produced by Solo Productions. Mary Young Leckie (LMN’s Committed, Shades of Black) and Tom Patricia (Lifetime’s Homeless to Harvard, LMN’s The Devil's Teardrop) serve as executive producers and Norma Bailey (Lifetime’s The Pastor’s Wife) directs from a script written by Keith Ross Leckie (LMN’s Committed, Everest).

Nobody portrays creepy evil quite like Gary Cole. The actor who gained prominence as convicted murderer Jeffrey MacDonald in “Fatal Vision” is at it again. Cole, 55, takes the title role in “An Officer and a Murderer,” a true story.

In the Lifetime movie, debuting at 8 p.m. Saturday, Cole plays Col. Russell Williams, a high-ranking officer in Canada’s air force. The country was stunned to learn that Williams had a secret life that began with breaking into homes and taking women’s lingerie and escalated into assault and murder.

In 2010, Williams, then 47, was sentenced to two life terms for the first-degree murders of two women. He pleaded guilty to 88 charges in all, including sexual assault, forcible confinement and breaking and entering.

“It might be over the top as fiction,” Cole said. “There’s the kind of bizarre thing about the underwear and the stealing of underwear. That’s irrelevant. It doesn’t make what he did any more bizarre. He was a brutal killer.”

Cole prepared for the role by reading two books about Williams and studying video of Williams’ interrogation, which later went viral.

“The footage of this interrogation informed a lot of what I did,” Cole said. “Nothing I read showed a big, gregarious, outgoing guy. That was not his story. He was more beige than that. By accident or intention, that’s the way he wanted to be. He could mask what he was doing. In his head, he had the perfect situation. People couldn’t wrap their heads around his being a suspect because of his position in the community.”

The actor studied others’ impressions of Williams. “A lot of people, even though they respected his accomplishments, told stories about his being socially awkward and unable to look people in the eye,” Cole said. “He claims nothing was acted on until he was in his 40s. Maybe he did suppress. It was progressive: break-ins, then break-ins with people in the house, then he assaulted, and he tortured and murdered.”

The role reminded Cole of “Fatal Vision,” in which he played MacDonald, who was convicted of murdering his wife and two daughters. The 1984 TV movie put Cole on the map.

“I was able to basically ride that into some more TV movies and ended up on a series,” Cole said. “That did everything for me in terms of launching me from a Chicago theater actor to a beginning in Los Angeles.”

He starred in “Midnight Caller” and played another creepy villain in “American Gothic.” His many credits include “Office Space,” the “Brady Bunch” movies, “Hart of Dixie,” “Entourage” and “Desperate Housewives.” On “The Good Wife,” he has a recurring role as Kurt, who has wowed Diane (Christine Baranski).

Will Cole be back?

“Hopefully,” he said. “It’s all up to the writers’ room. I wound up doing one last year, right near the end of the year. They’ll probably find a reason to bring Kurt back. I enjoy working with Christine.”

Of all his credits, one show stands out.

“I feel really lucky to have been part of ‘The West Wing.’ I was there a couple of years as the vice president,” Cole said. “For me, that show was probably some of the best television we’ll see. It was a bunch of great actors and writing.”

He said fans most often ask him about “The West Wing.” “It is probably the most popular show I’ve been on,” Cole said. “I’ll still get people who talk to me about ‘American Gothic.’ ”

Disgusting.

Is this movie a Canadian production? I see many of the actors are Canadian...

»www.imdb.com/title/tt2223824/

Laura Harris, Rossif Sutherland, Emma Campbell, Lisa Ciara, Joe Vercillo, etc...

Sounds like a Canadian production to me...

Probably is, since I doubt many Americans have heard or care about Russell Williams. It was big news in Canada.